The Moment a Man's World Stands Still
by The Killing Question
Summary: It was no secret that InuYasha was a man of action, but when the person that meant more to him than anything was face to face with death, he realized no amount of fighting or anger would bring them back. All he could do was stop and pray that she didn't leave him forever… OCxInuYasha References to past KagomexInuYasha and KikyoxInuYasha


**A/N: I am overwhelmingly happy with how this turned out. The goal was to show InuYasha's more serious side that usually only shows up when something drastic happens to a loved one. I think that was achieved while still staying true to his character, but I'll let you be the judge of that. Disclaimers are unnecessary with fanfiction, clearly the concept was not my idea. Seika is the only one that is all mine.**

* * *

There was a universally known concept that the more often you fight, the more likely it is that someone you care about is going to get hurt trying to help you. When you live in a time where you have to fight every day just for the right to keep living to see the next sunrise, that concept becomes slightly dulled. However, every now and again, there's a certain person that gets put at risk that will make you realize that there's more to your feelings than you thought and the sight of them being launched into the air and slammed into a tree makes your heart stop and your blood turn to ice in your veins.

Time froze when InuYasha saw Seika's crumpled form on the ground, unmoving and smelling more and more like blood with every passing moment. If ever there was a time for him to become enraged and ruthlessly slaughter the attacker, it was now, but his muscles were stayed by the horrible picture in front of him. He could hear Miroku yelling at him to move; fight, run to her, something other than just stand there and stare.

He felt his body moving, not to her, but towards the demon. Only sudo-aware of what he was doing, he mechanically dispatched the demon. Dred had settled like a stone in his stomach as he turned to the broken little human girl now lying in a pool of her own blood.

There was a time when he would worry something like this would happen to Kagome. He would secretly drive himself crazy with apprehension sometimes over the thought. Ever since Seika fell through the sacred tree, his tree, into the feudal era from Kagome's time, his concerns slowly began to shift. By this time he realized the earth witch had taken the place of both Kikyo and her reincarnation in his heart. To see her in such a state now, he could never forgive himself.

She was stronger than Kagome; could fend for herself. She didn't need to be watched over like the priestess did. Her dominion over the regional vegetation made her a challenge on her own from her first days in the feudal era, even as inexperienced as she was in the beginning. He hadn't thought to watch out for her this time since she never seemed to need it before. She was a long ranged fighter like Kagome was, even though the latter always seemed to find a way into trouble. Seika usually stayed out of reach of the enemy and watched everyone else's backs. The thought that she would be in such danger never occurred to him until now.

He stood back as the others crowded around her, trying to determine the best way to move her and check her pulse and wounds. InuYasha unintentionally held his breath as Sango gently pulled the girl into her lap. She didn't look to be moving at all. Her usually cheerful short green kimono, with its oversized bell sleeves that always gave her a sunny look was now stained an ugly brown. Her warm chocolate colored hair was tinted red in the worst way. InuYasha had seen all of his friends on their worst days after their hardest battles, and they never looked as utterly _broken_ as Seika did now.

Everything was still, the trees even seeming to hold their breath, as Miroku felt for a pulse while Sango did her best to gently check the wounds her body had sustained. InuYasha felt hollow with the passing moments.

"She's alive," Miroku gasped out as if that was the best news he had ever given to anyone before.

Immediately, they all began to tend to her wounds as gently as possible. InuYasha let out a shuttered breath, the weight that left him in that instant affecting him more than any of his friends would ever realize. Kirara nudged his arm and mewled quietly as she looked up at him. He quickly rubbed at his eyes before patting the cat's head.

When the group had done what they could to wrap up Seika's worst wounds, InuYasha immediately picked her up, cradling her head against his shoulder, and turned in the direction of the closest village. She'd survive for now with their patch job, but she'd need further healing with better medicines than what they had now. Kagome was low on supplies from their last battle, so they'd have to drop her off at the closest village and let them work on her for now while he took Kagome back to her time to restock.

* * *

Seika's entire body felt heavy, even her eyelids; especially her eyelids. In fact, she couldn't move them at all. Slightly concerned, she tried to move her hands to see if she could move anything. She was able to twitch her fingers, but even that took an abnormal amount of effort.

Eventually she was able to regain decent control of her hands and turned her attention back to trying to open her eyes. It wasn't easy. Every time she was able to open them a little, they wanted to close again.

She cringed from the bright sun shining through the window when she was finally able to open her eyes. She groaned quietly and turned her head away from the offending light.

A bowl dropping to the floor and hasty footsteps was heard as someone approached her. "Thank God," she heard Sango sigh out and sit down beside her.

"Sango?" Seika called, her voice cracking from non-use, and opened her eyes again to see the demon-slayer's relieved expression. "What happened?"

Sango smiled reassuringly before recalling the incident, "You were thrown pretty hard and hit a tree. You fell a good distance and didn't move once you hit the ground. We all thought the worst."

The witch made a slight 'oh' with her mouth but no sound came out. The demon-slayer smiled again, "InuYasha's been beside himself. He hasn't spoken to anyone since the incident."

Seika gave her a confused look. "InuYasha?" she repeated. He had never shown any great concern any other time she got hurt. Of course, this was the first time she had come this close to death, but still. It just seemed so unlike him.

Sango nodded, "Yeah, it's been worrying us. We've been thinking he'll go back to normal once you woke up. Do you feel up to seeing him?"

The witch's heart shot up to her throat at the idea of InuYasha being so affected by her. If he was that distraught, the sooner he saw her awake the better. If there was one thing she knew, it was that nothing was okay if InuYasha was not acting like himself. She nodded and watched as Sango left the hut, closing her eyes for a moment while her friend searched for the half-demon.

* * *

The soft sound of bare feet hitting the ground alerted Seika of his arrival. She listened as he hesitated before taking a seat at her side. She opened her eyes again and was shocked to see his haggard state. It looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, making her wonder if she had been out for that long or if he had just been that tore up about everything.

"You look terrible," she joked, realizing she still had to look worse than he did. The small smile she held disappeared when he just continued to stare at her, clearly unamused. "InuYasha?"

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, hiding his eyes from her so she didn't see how angry he was at himself.

She shook her head in confusion, "For what?"

He clinched his fists in his sleeves, "I didn't look out for you like I should have and you were almost killed because of it." Just saying the words he had been constantly thinking of the last week and a half she had been unconscious made him angrier with himself.

"InuYasha, you can't blame this on yourself," she couldn't believe he was beating himself up over her own mistake. "I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and I was caught off guard. This was my fault-"

"I should have protected you!" he yelled, interrupting the beaten girl in front of him. "If I had done that you would have been fine."

Seika shook her head at him, "You can't think like that anytime someone gets hurt like this. You can't protect everyone all the time."

"You're not just 'someone', Seika," he spouted, letting her see his eyes finally and just how much he was really tearing at himself, "I know I can't protect everyone, but I could have protected _you_."

She was dumbfounded by his words. InuYasha was not a man that just came out and said how he was feeling, but Seika had connected with him at some point and figured out how he got his emotions across. This was more than she had ever expected him to show anyone. Her heart ached for his self-loathing.

Every muscle in her body screamed at her in protest when she began to force herself up into a sitting position. "Stop," InuYasha commanded, reaching out to her but stopping himself for fear of hurting her more. She ignored him anyway and continued to force her body to move, surely causing more damage than she should have been risking.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked up to see InuYasha sitting behind her, pulling her back against him. If she was going to go through that much trouble to sit up for him, he was damn well going to make sure she didn't hurt herself more than she already had trying to get closer to him.

She sat with her back against his chest and his arms around her shoulders, breathing in his closeness and warmth. He rested his head against her shoulder and closed his eyes as he listened to her steady breathing. They had sat together before, back to back, talking into the late hours of the night when everyone else had gone to sleep, but this was not the same. Those times were spent as friends, learning about each other and the hardships they had faced. This was more intimate. It didn't need words. Everything they needed to say to one another was told in the heartbeats the felt against one another.

They fell asleep together; Seika still weak from her injuries and InuYasha from sleep deprivation and worry. Sango found the two a short while later in that position and smiled to herself, knowing InuYasha would be back to himself by the time he woke up and left them be.

* * *

Things had definitely changed in the group. Kagome began traveling with Shippo on a regular basis, while Seika was by InuYasha's side as often as possible, and he actually didn't make a very large effort to hide his affections towards the witch when he was in front of others. He had also taken a much more protective stance towards the girl, remnants of his guilt from letting her get hurt so easily still eating at the back of his head during battle. Not only that, but the pair's late night talks slowly became stolen kisses under the stars.

The half-demon had found an inner peace through Seika, and she found stable ground in a time she was unfamiliar with but always belonged in through InuYasha.

* * *

It was no secret that InuYasha was a man of action, but when the person that meant more to him than anything was face to face with death, he realized no amount of fighting or anger would bring them back. All he could do was stop and pray that she didn't leave him forever…


End file.
